Warm-up/Pre-exercise Mobility

[sina]

Hello,

well I thought to post this to see what you all do for pre-workout mobility / pre-exercise warming up leading to your workouts. I have to be quite honest I am pretty stubborn and " LAZY " to warm-up for my trainings and I think it took a effect on my body, making me lack some mobility. Noticing the range of motion on one arm is slightly better than the other... I've been getting aches/pains all the years but this year has been the worst in terms of stiffness, tightness and achey joint pains in my knees, rotator-cuff and now my elbows I'm noticing to be very stiff! Regardlessly how I layed off in the past few months with training. I still feel this annoying elbow dryness in the medial epicondylitis that is just pickering me...

So I am this thread to basically see how you guys do it in terms of warming up from duration to specific things... I know some pros like Kai Greene take up to 30-40min warming-up by doing step-mill, ab crunches and so on.

I am thinking
#1. Cardio (LISS) 10-20 minutes Step-mill
#2. Foam-rolling pre-exercise (IT bands, Hip Flexor, Spine, Delts)
#3. Rotator-Cuff work (3 exercises perhaps something like "Scarecrows" 3-4 sets of 15 reps, External Rotations/Flyes 3 sets 12-15 reps, Cuban Presses 3-4 sets of 15 reps, and shoulder press with rear-delt flyes and side laterals then front raises as a Circuit for 15 reps all around
#4. Arms: Triceps/Biceps superset or preforming 5 sets of rope pushdowns 25-30 reps then Alternative DB Bicep Curls 5x12-15 ascending weight

Then from here if you are training Deltoids then you can start by doing 3-4 sets of progressive weight on Side laterals until you are warmed up and start preforming other exercises for deltoids with a weight working up to your working sets for example
" Seated dumbbell military press "
Set #1 25lb - 20 reps
Set #2 30lb - 20 reps
Set #3 55lb - 15 reps
Set #4 65lb - 15 reps
Set #5 70lb - 15 reps
Set #6 80-90lb 12-15 reps

Basically working up to the weight slowly to keep blood-filling and staying warm and not going heavy sacrificing form for 6-8 reps...

 

[asooneyeonig]

I'm in the camp that believes warm ups are simple and are there to prep you for a specific lift. Though I have started to do add volume to my warm ups and do less accessory work after the main lift. Seeing a nice little surge in strength gains the last year I have been doing it as I have a tendency to skip accessory work.

For example, when I do squats I'll start at 135 and do a set of 3, 4, and 5. Then move to 185 and a set of 1, 2, 3. Repeat at 225. Then at 275 do a set of 1 and then 2. Then move up to work sets even if it's a lighter weight.

I only do mobility work, prehab, etc if it's needed and continue up to 2 weeks after all pain goes away.

Keep in mind as much as I love to lift and compete my time is limited. I have a career that requires continuing education, I'm a single father and do lots of activities with my daughter, I have a 111yr old house with lots of remodeling projects, and have other interests and hobbies as well. I would love to train 5 days a week but just can't fit it into my schedule. I'm switching things up to a Dan John-esque 2 day program with 1 day of highland games training after I'm done with this cycle of the cube.

 

[Sean1332]

Agreed with Oz. Any major foam rolling, MFR, or stretching should be done outside of the gym, and just on what needs worked. I don't want to be foam rolling for 15 minutes before I squat.

I'll take a lacrosse ball to the glutes/pecs/thoracic spine for 30 seconds each, do a mobility drill for whatever major joint will be used (hips/shoulder) if needed, just to ensure I can get into an optimal position. In addition: if I'm training my lower body, I'll do some bodyweight split squats or lunges and then get under the bar. If it's upper body, I'll do some pullaparts. Takes me 10 minutes for all that.

I get in more reps with the lower weights and then ramp up, decreasing my reps. Bar x10, 135x10, 225x6, 315x5, 365x3, 405x1 then singles after that until I reach my working load. Everyone is different. Some prefer smaller jumps, some can handle more.

 

[Sean1332]

Something with editing options in profile settings?

 

[ZiR RED]

I wrote about this a while ago here:In short, the warm up should serve the following purposes:

1. Increase muscle temperature and activate required body systems (such as the SNS - adrenal axis).

2. Activate fixator and stabilizer muscles, such as the rotator cuff and lower traps. If you have some antagonist inhibition you can also strength those to get them to chill out during training. For example, many people have lower cross syndrome, where their hip flexors are tight and prevent full hip extension with a neutral back. These people would benefit from stretching the psoas and RF prior to lower body training.

3. Movement prep. Something that mimics the movement but is not the exact movement. For example, if you are doing deadlifts you can do a set or two of band resisted good mornings.

4. Specific movement. This is what people are most familiar with, such as doing 2-3 sets of light weight squats before the working sets. I see no reason to use high volume and high reps here. You will accumulate fatigue in the session quicker and get less force out of the working sets. So So nix the idea of doing 12-20 rep sets. 3-4 sets of 3-4 reps with progressively increasing weight is ideal.

The Ideal Bench Press Warmup | Jason Cholewa - Assistant Professor of Exercise Science at Coastal Carolina University

 

[asooneyeonig]

I wrote about this a while ago here:In short, the warm up should serve the following purposes:
3. Movement prep. Something that mimics the movement but is not the exact movement. For example, if you are doing deadlifts you can do a set or two of band resisted good mornings.

what is the reasoning/mechanism behind doing a similar movement for warmup?

 

[ZiR RED]

what is the reasoning/mechanism behind doing a similar movement for warmup?

To do a low resistance, low fatiguing, greater ROM (in most cases) dynamic movement. Doing so allows you to work on speed of contraction and begin recruiting larger, faster twitch muscle fibers (without fatiguing them) that other wise would not be recruited during the specific warm up.